The Dark Knight trilogy really wanted to be a realistic, grounded take on the Batman mythos, so they dropped the more fantastical elements of some characters’ backstories. Ra’s Al Ghul was no longer immortal, Bane didn’t have super steroids, the Joker wasn’t permanently bleached by chemicals…then there’s Two-Face.
I guess they thought acid burns were too unrealistic, so they gave him regular burns…apparently without knowing that burns that severe would be so painful that he wouldn’t even be able to remain conscious, much less run around the city on a killing spree. I mean, you can see exposed muscle in some places. There’s a line where Gordon says he’s rejecting skin grafts, and I remember thinking, “WTF are you talking about? He should be in a medically induced coma, not making healthcare decisions.” Half of his body was an open wound; I’m amazed he didn’t die of infection 15 minutes after he left the hospital.
He should have also lost the one eye, like if your eye lids were burnt off there is going to be definite damage to the eye itself. Looked fuckin’ rad though so he’s got that going for him.
That was one of the biggest things that took me out of that movie. They stage this huge operation at the Gotham Stock Exchange or wherever, everybody knows this giant crime is happening there, but woops, looks like Bruce Wayne has been magically bankrupted, there’s nothing we can do about it. It just took me out of it thinking, “I don’t think you can just bankrupt a billionaire like that.”
It’s really crazy, because not only is it obvious, the stock market has several protections for more or less this. Trading is routinely halted when weird things happen like massive plunges in price. Rollbacks are also a thing that happen somewhat regularly for all sorts of reasons.
I totally agree, really took me out of the movie too.
I find it funny in a world with a billionaire dressing up as a bat, the most ridiculous thing is how they commit white collar crime. I think largely it seemed to easy and also soo stupid that batman wouldn’t have a diversified portfolio with things not all tied up in the stock market.
There was an analysis of Nolan and post-Nolan Batman that argued that once you strip away all the fantastic parts of Batman, all the Clayfaces and Mr. Freezes and Poison Ivies and the sentient robots and uncanny weirdness, all that is left is a bunch of problems that frankly the cops should be able to handle, and that Batman at that point is just a cop who is willing to violate people’s Constitutional rights.
If Batman can be replaced by a well-outfitted SWAT team, then you’re not writing Batman well enough. Give him some insane nonsense that cops are not equipped to handle.
The pseudo-realism in those batman movies and comic book movies in general is a huge part of why I detest them. It’s like an uncanny gap or something. Comic book characters are inherently ridiculous and absurd so I can’t take them seriously. They ask me to suspend too much disbelief.
One specific example from the batman movies is at the end of one of them, I forget which, I think a few hundred cops charge a bunch of guys with machine guns or something? And I remember thinking in the theater they are about to get mowed down World War I style. But somehow they win, they all live, and the streets aren’t flowing with a river of blood. You want me to take them seriously, while having absurd characters and situations, and then you put them in situations where they absolutely should be massacred…I just…I’m out…
I feel like the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies did that well. Sure their absurd but it kinda works into the favor of the movie. Also the acting of basically everyone helped, especially Willem Dafoe chewing the scenery.
Raimi achieved the melodrama that Schumacher had missed.
It helps that Spider-Man fights are mostly face versus heel, without requiring an army of goons. Dozens of randos getting biff-whap-pow’d is fine. Having them show up in villain-themed uniforms raises some questions.
The Dark Knight trilogy really wanted to be a realistic, grounded take on the Batman mythos, so they dropped the more fantastical elements of some characters’ backstories. Ra’s Al Ghul was no longer immortal, Bane didn’t have super steroids, the Joker wasn’t permanently bleached by chemicals…then there’s Two-Face.
I guess they thought acid burns were too unrealistic, so they gave him regular burns…apparently without knowing that burns that severe would be so painful that he wouldn’t even be able to remain conscious, much less run around the city on a killing spree. I mean, you can see exposed muscle in some places. There’s a line where Gordon says he’s rejecting skin grafts, and I remember thinking, “WTF are you talking about? He should be in a medically induced coma, not making healthcare decisions.” Half of his body was an open wound; I’m amazed he didn’t die of infection 15 minutes after he left the hospital.
It always bothered me that two-face has no pronunciation problems with only half a pair of lips
This might be the only time we’ll see somebody complain that somebody is speaking too clearly in a Chris Nolan movie.
I read this as “No Pronoun Problems” and was like, dayyum, Two Face got my vote. Hell yeah de-gender those bathrooms in the Two-Face Goon cave.
He should have also lost the one eye, like if your eye lids were burnt off there is going to be definite damage to the eye itself. Looked fuckin’ rad though so he’s got that going for him.
Thoo Faith
They also bankrupted Bruce through theft.
That was one of the biggest things that took me out of that movie. They stage this huge operation at the Gotham Stock Exchange or wherever, everybody knows this giant crime is happening there, but woops, looks like Bruce Wayne has been magically bankrupted, there’s nothing we can do about it. It just took me out of it thinking, “I don’t think you can just bankrupt a billionaire like that.”
It’s really crazy, because not only is it obvious, the stock market has several protections for more or less this. Trading is routinely halted when weird things happen like massive plunges in price. Rollbacks are also a thing that happen somewhat regularly for all sorts of reasons.
I totally agree, really took me out of the movie too.
I find it funny in a world with a billionaire dressing up as a bat, the most ridiculous thing is how they commit white collar crime. I think largely it seemed to easy and also soo stupid that batman wouldn’t have a diversified portfolio with things not all tied up in the stock market.
He could also talk normally despite half of his lips being gone.
The Nolan movies always cared more about giving the appearance of realism by making everything dull and monotone than actually being realistic.
That always killed me! Like… bro, a soft breeze should take him out. He’s not ready to be a villain, he’s ready to spend 5+ years in rehab.
There was an analysis of Nolan and post-Nolan Batman that argued that once you strip away all the fantastic parts of Batman, all the Clayfaces and Mr. Freezes and Poison Ivies and the sentient robots and uncanny weirdness, all that is left is a bunch of problems that frankly the cops should be able to handle, and that Batman at that point is just a cop who is willing to violate people’s Constitutional rights.
If Batman can be replaced by a well-outfitted SWAT team, then you’re not writing Batman well enough. Give him some insane nonsense that cops are not equipped to handle.
They could but they don’t because corruption.
Fundamentally, Batman isn’t about solving insane problems. He’s driven by his anger to not any other kid be an orphan like him.
The pseudo-realism in those batman movies and comic book movies in general is a huge part of why I detest them. It’s like an uncanny gap or something. Comic book characters are inherently ridiculous and absurd so I can’t take them seriously. They ask me to suspend too much disbelief.
One specific example from the batman movies is at the end of one of them, I forget which, I think a few hundred cops charge a bunch of guys with machine guns or something? And I remember thinking in the theater they are about to get mowed down World War I style. But somehow they win, they all live, and the streets aren’t flowing with a river of blood. You want me to take them seriously, while having absurd characters and situations, and then you put them in situations where they absolutely should be massacred…I just…I’m out…
I feel like the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies did that well. Sure their absurd but it kinda works into the favor of the movie. Also the acting of basically everyone helped, especially Willem Dafoe chewing the scenery.
Raimi achieved the melodrama that Schumacher had missed.
It helps that Spider-Man fights are mostly face versus heel, without requiring an army of goons. Dozens of randos getting biff-whap-pow’d is fine. Having them show up in villain-themed uniforms raises some questions.